remain aware of your surroundings at all times. a rule that has and will continue to keep my out of harms way. be aware of your surroundings, the way people are acting (aggressive/overly friendly), and where important objectives are placed, loved ones/anything that can be used as a weapon/position of opponents or possible opponents.i sound a bit paranoid, but i consider being a bit paranoid a good thing.

1.Don't dare to have the bad form to go into a class as a green belt from a different school and sucker an instructor with about 30 yrs. of experience under his frayed little belt into making a rookie mistake and then to add injury to insult by putting your foot upside his noggin. 2.Leave before he has his #1 student spar with you. 3.Being kicked into the wall and then crashing back down onto the ground sucks.

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Hey, man!!! I see you over there! You ain't no freakin' ninja!

Quote:My instructor is fond of saying that "The number one rule of martial arts is..." replacing ... with a variety of statements, sometimes toungue-in-cheek. He'll say the rule, then follow with "If you haven't noticed yet, there's a lot of number one rules for martial arts."

I was wondering if anybody out there could offer a few of their own "Number One Rules"

Here are some I can think of off hand:

-Don't stop to admire your own work.-Get out of the way first.-Bend your knees.-Hit them more than they hit you.